Have you been noticing that you are working just as hard, if not harder these days, and you just aren't getting ahead? Have you noticed that your trips to the grocery store don't bring back as much as they used to ? Have you noticed things at Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Texas Roadhouse, the diner, or your favorite restaurant are getting more expensive? Do you have the feeling they are only going to get more expensive? What gives? Who knows the cause? Who knows the solution?

20
comments:

Anything purchased from any of those places has to be transported to them first-which means fuel-which means adios mucho dinero, muchachos. And inflation-you ain't seen nuthin' yet, babe...wait until summer-time. BTW-this would be a good time to purchase a bike/helmet/light/optional handle-bar chain gun not included.

1:17 is an idiot. Everyone knew that hyper inflation was and is coming two years ago. It has nothing to do with the "major political party" you speak of. You elude to the republicans when the democrats are no different. What would yoou prefer? Would you like to see the government increase all wages to equal the inflation rate? Soon you would be paying $20 for a gallon of milk.

1:16 is correct. The price of fuel is driving a large part of it. I like mini gun idea. In a bicycle no less. I'm thinking one of those scooters that gets 100 mpg....and the chain gun. Seriously though. People should start thinking of ways to stock pile food and water and have a way to defend it. The worst you will end up with is plenty of food and water. On the other hand, if food becomes scarce you will be prepared. For those of you who think that this is an extreme view I have one question for you. Where will you turn if food becomes scarce? The government no doubt.

We also have a side-car version, for the wife and/or girlfriend, that supports a mounted weapons platform that fires in standard 5.56-Our pink model has especially caught on after the hot ex-model rock-A-byed a home intruder attacking her husband, after breaking through their household front door, with....wait for it-a PINK bedside table pistol.

And LE, it is BOTH/ALL THREE SIDES that get 'Need Improvement' on their report cards...

Everything in my body says no to anybody owning a pink gun/orange tank in the desert...unless it was just used to blast a career felon to Smithereens. I like to think the remedy had very cost effective due process and equal protection due to all the stipulated facts.

And LE-if you can tell me where some hidden druid fjord is in Denamarkistan, you can't be so naive as to see that the entire American PARTY PROCESS has let us all down. It is now about campaigning than governing-and you betcha' every one of our overseas adversaries and friends knows we are vulnerable.

@BL "you can't be so naive as to see that the entire American PARTY PROCESS has let us all down."

And the way you put the process back on track is by punishing those who sold out to lobbyists and moneyed interests. The middle class should be pissed AND then ACTUALLY do something about it for a change.

But with Fox News just shuffling the cups, most viewers don't have a clue.

@BL "... you betcha' every one of our overseas adversaries and friends knows we are vulnerable."

You got that right... Have you seen what the dollar has done this month relative to other currencies?? Everything coming from overseas will become more expensive soon.

I've always found compromise and positive reinforcement work better than punishment.

I am old fashioned. Punishment {mortar attack} leads to more punishment {air strike}, and other usually passive-aggressive behavior which really steams people even more, leading to even more punishment {cell-phone activated IED sewn into dead roadside dog carcass that is detonated just as passenger bus goes by}.

I also feel the designated hitter in professional baseball should be abolished because if you have a dude head-hunting/trying to own the inside of the plate, he knows he has to come to stand in the batter's box soon himself.

get a grip, they are all the same... none of the politicians have a clue about middle America and/or do not care. If they did they would show up to vote and not run and hide because they don't like what's on the table.

You want prices down? Force your government to drill and build nuke power plants etc. Thosee who think otherwise need a brain that works on more than two cells.

I say definitely drill more..but as a guy who visits Holland often, develop wind and solar; any NEW nuclear is going to get as much bad press as having a new supermax prison built in your backyard. I am working without a specific link, but a lot of us kids born of hippies remember that President Carter started to vigorously explore solar {put panels on the White House...subsequently taken down by Reagan??}. Keep in mind-none of these solve the ENTIRE nations problems, but if you can take advantage of south-West sun, and east/west coast off-sshore gusts...you have the start of a multi-bullet solution where we can finally tell the Saudis to go pound their own sand. See how long THEIR 25 palace a monarchy lasts when their oil rigs become nothing more than symbols of so many failed kingdoms past. And the other damage reagan did by giving us a nice speech while tacitly doing controversial things..well...let's say we were robbed of an opportunity to embrace a changed world in 1980, too....and let it go..

That's quite naive. That won't accomplish much except to make the rich richer.

Here's a good one for your education. Read and think. It's Herbert's final column after 18 years. We'll miss him.

OP-ED COLUMNISTLosing Our WayBy BOB HERBERTPublished: March 25, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/opinion/26herbert.html

Here are a few quotes from that piece:

"The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely."

"The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent."

"Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home."

ya know what, it doesn't matter about the rich getting richer, they always will and I say more power to them as long as they do it legal and pay their share, and not to an offshore bank.

We will always have mal distribution of wealth as long as we have distribution of wealth. I don't have to tell you who favors spreading the wealth around whatever that has to do with this topic.

You must accept it, we have to drill, build nuke plants, put up windmills, solar, etc. etc. etc. or nothing is going to change and us poor people are going to suffer until it does.

I know my box of donuts have less in them for the same price, a pound of hamburger is twice what it was two years ago, it takes a lot more to feed my diesel F250.

There are no feel good solutions to this, we are at war with the world and it doesn't look like that is giong to change anytime soon, alternative fuels wont do it a replacement fuel will, and until we come up with a replacement we must do some or all of the above to start to right our sinking ship. Respectfully.

@TPE "We will always have mal distribution of wealth as long as we have distribution of wealth."

Uhhh. It's not what it was 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. The wealthy have basically declared war on the middle class, and most of the middle class didn't even notice.

Why didn't they notice? Well one reason is that Fox News plays the "ohhh look at that over there!!" game and directs the attention of naive viewers to a whole pile of stuff that just doesn't matter.

The whole Tea Party thing is a case in point. Fox News has sold them a bill of goods. If the Tea Party folks really wanted to solve the budget trouble with the least pain and the most straightforward manner, they'd all be doing a 180 degree turnabout.